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Glenn Dropped From Key Melatonin Experiment Aboard Shuttle

October 21, 1998|By From Tribune News Services.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — For undisclosed reasons, Sen. John Glenn has been dropped from one of the main age-related experiments in which the 77-year-old former astronaut had planned to take part during his return to space next week, NASA officials said Tuesday.

Glenn still will fly aboard the shuttle Discovery on Oct. 29. But in August he was dropped without announcement from a widely publicized experiment designed to test the hypnotic effects of very small amounts of the natural hormone, melatonin, on sleep and daytime activities in space.

The study's principal investigator, Dr. Charles Czeisler of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said last weekend that he was surprised when he had to disqualify Glenn.